Alec Baldwin Will “Never” Tweet Again: “It’s Just Another Chink in Your Armor for People to Come and Kill You”

Alongside playing a Madoff-esque white-collar criminal in the upcoming Woody Allen film, Blue Jasmine, Alec Baldwin recently curated a collection of 30 photos of music and film legends with the agency Rock Paper Photo.

The works were at Gallery 151 in Manhattan, and at a party hosted by the Macallan on Monday, where VF Daily caught up with Baldwin. The father-to-be told us about the fate of his Twitter account, his hopes for his future daughter, and his desire to quit acting. Highlights from our chat:

VF Daily: What drew you to the photos you chose? Subjects include the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor, and David Bowie.

Alec Baldwin: I picked the ones that were kind of my era . . . late 60s, 70s. When I was a kid, we would smoke a joint and lay down on the floor, and put the speakers next to our head and crank it up as loud as we could, and listen to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. Everybody had posters in their room, everybody had the four symbols of Zeppelin on the wall, and all that. All that mystical, twistical bullshit. [Laughs.]

You like classic movies—you’re on TCM sometimes—and classical music, right?

I’m 55, man, yeah. It’s all classical now. My whole life is classical now. Except my wife. I don’t have a classical wife. I have a classy wife, but I don’t have a classical wife.

She listens to more contemporary music?

Yeah, she listens to more what the young people listen to.

Do you collect anything classic?

I collect travel alarm clocks. I was in a flea market in France once, in 1994, and I opened up this beautiful Jaeger-LeCoultre folding eight-day winding clock folded into a beautiful case, and I went, Wow, man. And I’ve been collecting travel alarm clocks since 1994.

Do you have a room full of them?

I have them planted on different surfaces, but my wife now is telling me we have to get rid of them. She thinks it’s a little Tim Burton. She’s waiting for Johnny Depp to come walking in the room with, like, a cape on or something.

You’re in the new Woody Allen movie, Blue Jasmine. Can you tell me anything about your character?

My character is not that important. My character is there to drive the story. The real thing in this movie is Cate Blanchett shows you again—again—why she is one of the three greatest movie actresses alive today. Being around her was like being on cocaine. She was such a thrill. I love her.

What do you think about this Edward Snowden case?

I want to try to interview him for my podcast on WNYC. I’m pressing all the buttons I have in London with friends of mine who know [Julian] Assange. I’m going to fly to Russia and try to interview Snowden.

Really?

I’m going to try.

Are you a fan, or horrified by him?

I’m not a fan or a critic. I want it to play out. It’s like [Daniel] Ellsberg, you know? Insofar as let’s find out what he’s got. Let’s not assume automatically that he’s an enemy of this country. If he is, well then we have laws that, unfortunately for him, he’s fucked. They’re going to get him; I’m sure someone is going to trade him.

Are you ever going to open your Twitter account again?

Never. No. I went to Jimmy Gandolfini’s funeral, and when I was there I realized Jimmy Gandolfini didn’t have Twitter. Jimmy Gandolfini was so beloved as a person, and he was so admired as an actor, and he didn’t give a fuck about social media.

I really learned a lesson at the funeral. I said to myself, This is all a waste of time. Meaning it’s fun sometimes, but less and less, and less. It’s just another chink in your armor for people to come and kill you. I stopped and said to myself, I’m going to try where I just don’t do this anymore.

I’m having a baby. And everyone has seen how certain things have played out with my daughter, which as been very painful—it’s been really unpleasant. That has consequences, and I do not want that to happen with my next child. I have one dream in my life and that is that this daughter I’m having—she comes to me about seven or eight years from now, she has a friend, and she’s at her house and she says, “Daddy, Susie’s mom says you used to be on TV. Daddy, is that true?” She has no knowledge of me as a public person. That would be heaven for me.

You’re not going to quit acting, though, are you?

I’d love to if I could, yeah. That would be the greatest thing in the world.